much more clever than we, and there the superintendent himself has
been. I have been here now nearly a year, and I thought that I had
learned a great deal; but when I heard what those who passed the
examination knew, and considered that they would not amount to anything
either when they came into contact with foreigners, I became very
despondent. And then the soil here in Norway is so poor compared with
what it is abroad; it does not at all repay us for what we do with it.
Moreover, people will not learn from the experience of others; and even
if they would, and if the soil was much better, they really have not
the money to cultivate it. It is remarkable that things have prospered
as well as they have.
I am now in the highest class, and am to remain there a year
before I get through. But most of my companions have left and I long
for home. I feel alone, although I am not so by any means, but one has
such a strange feeling when one has been long absent. I once thought I
should become so much of a scholar here; but I am not making the
progress I anticipated.
What shall I do with myself when I leave here? First, of course,
I will come home; afterwards, I suppose, I will have to seek something
to do, but it must not be far away.
Farewell, now, dear parents! Give greetings to all who inquire
for me, and tell them that I have everything pleasant here but that now
I long to be at home again.
Your affectionate son,
OYVIND THORESEN PLADSEN.



DEAR SCHOOL-MASTER,--With this I ask if you will deliver the inclosed
letter and not speak of it to any one. And if you will not, then you